Sure, but it’s not your decision. You’re not in charge of the boat. The question isn’t When would you decide to force someone to choose between saving his own life and keeping his pet with him.
What sort of pets do you have, and how old are you and they?
Sorry, guinea pigs. Have fun in your brave new world. I’ll think of you fondly as I’m sitting on the couch surfing the Internet and chatting with my husband.
IN a heartbeat. It’s just a pet, and my love is back home, waiting for me - the partner of my life. What has a pet ever done that’s remotely close to what he’s done for me?
Bye-bye, gecko. And in the past I’ve had dogs, bunnies, birds, and other reptiles. Bye bye all of you.
I answered “never”, but that’s conditioned on it being dogs. Cats are more cohabitants than pets anyway, and most of the cats I’ve known would make it home on their own, when they choose, in their own good time (which might be before or after I do).
Actually, my mom did have a dog for about a year that, when he ran away for the last time, I and everyone else just said “Good riddance” and stopped looking for him. But he was never really what you would call a “pet”, either, and never to my knowledge bonded with another living creature.
Yeah, but there’s a sea involved, or maybe a dimensional void if we’re being silly. I doubt my cats could navigate the former. As for the latter–well, if they can cross those, they clearly don’t need any help from me.
This is the sticking point for me. I can’t possibly justify leaving my husband alone in the world in order to protect the dogs, no matter how much I like them. If I have reason to believe I’m never going if I don’t get on the boat, I’m getting on the flipping boat.
I just hope I’d have the stones to kill them humanely before I go, if I think they’re going to meet a nasty fate if I leave them.
Of course I’d leave a dog behind to get back home. I’m actually quite surprised to see ANY “no” answers in here, not to mention a majority! You people are weird. 
Your scenario is too extreme and I have my doubts as to the legitimacy of these answers. I’ve had pets that I really really loved and I would go through far more than the average person for them, but we’re talking about being stranded in a bizarre place with death and torture being likely. Pets die and it’s just something you have to accept in life. It’s just not practical to give up your own life to save a pet like that.
Now if there was a more practical OP where someone suffered significantly for their pet but didn’t give up their life or become permanently stranded in a strange and dangerous place, I’d probably be willing to do a lot for the pet.
I suspect that if someone were actually put in this situation, no one here - or at least not more than 5% or so, would actually take the fourth option.
Yeah…I was a bit surprised, too. Maybe people are seeing this place less as a scary/horrible place and more like Oz, which wasn’t all that bad.
I mean, if it was genuinely give up your pet or die/go mad…I find it hard to believe someone would stay.
The only situation we’ve had that compares to real life is Dung Beetle’s example of an abusive relationship. Granted, the pets were going to be taken care of in that situation, but even if they weren’t, the idea that someone was willing to leave an abusive relationship but refused to because of the animals would be a bit creepy. (Sorry you had to be in that situation, by the way, Dung Beetle–glad you’re out of it.)
It would depend on the circumstances, especially on what I had to go back to, and what was going on currently.
If I was a political prisoner in an Iranian dungeon and adopted a rat as a pet, and then was given the opportunity to return to my wife and kids, but I had to leave the rat behind, I wouldn’t give the rat a second thought (and don’t believe many would).
And really, when it comes down to it, not many people are really going to choose a dog or cat over returning to their spouses and children either.
If it was just me and a dog, and I was single and without kids, then I’d stick with the dog and maybe start thinking about giving some munchkin tail a whirl.
But see, my dog hasn’t lied to me yet. I don’t know what the future brings with the dude that is offering to bring me home. But I know how I would feel for the rest of my days if I left my dog behind. I still feel shitty for putting pets down and that’s an actual justifiable action, a choice I made thinking it was the best thing for both of us. I can’t see how leaving my dog in strange circumstances would ever be the best thing for both of us.
Yeah. Sorry, Skald, I dig your polls but this one is toooooo extreme, to the point where you really won’t get insightful/truthful answers, y’know?
'Cause the damned dog will be dead in a decade or so anyway. 
Not a chance. I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if I abandoned my boy like that.
I’m one of those people who are under the delusion that my dog is my baby, so I would stay, like any good mommy would.
Besides, she’s 8. We’ll only be stuck in this place together for 5 more years (Og willing) so I’ll work on leaving then.
Me too…all the time. 
I think part of the problem is that some hypotheticals demand to be fought. Sure, maybe I can see that this ship, right now is my best chance of getting home, but I can’t know for sure that there will never be another opportunity. Maybe the captain says there’s no way for the dog to come along, but maybe I can try to persuade him otherwise, or maybe I can smuggle the dog aboard. Sure, the OP says that we should set aside these maybes, but I don’t think most humans can, nor should we.
My partner too. Instead of “Welcome back” there’s a good chance I’d hear “What have you done with the cats?” I’d have some 'splainin to do.
When it comes down to it, my partner can survive without me, but I have no idea what evil plans the witch has for the cats. I wouldn’t want to live the rest of my life without knowing.
But theorizing aside . . . if I were ***really ***in that situation, I might decide otherwise.
I’m single so I would stay with my two cats.